Recently, I’ve been getting a few requests by underground artists to featured them on What Went Right With and I’ve now got a backlog of musicians who I agree, need exposure. First it’s Apollo Campbell who, to be honest, I’ve never heard of but that doesn’t make his music any less valid. Apollo Campbell, who takes his name from Rocky’s Apollo Creed, is from Toronto, Canada, and he says that he’s been “rapping under different aliases in obscurity for more than 16 years”. That’s very unfortunate since, judging my the links he sent me, his music is both credible and enjoyable. His latest track is “Universal Law” from his upcoming 9-track release Planet On Lock and it’s a satisfying listen. After hearing this song I was impressed and I’ll look out for that album-slash-mixtape when it drops…

Apollo describes this joint as his “new spaced out Afrocentric single” and with its reggae dub elements and impressive flow, it’s a pretty decent song. Upon hearing this, I checked out his YouTube channel and his Bandcamp page and although sparse, what was there was a pleasant find. A track called “TSUNGI” taken from his 2014 EP In Broad Daylight is short but is reminiscent of old-school Hip-Hop including the relatively recent trend in incorporating throwback aesthetics…

You can cop Apollo Campbell’s EP from his Bandcamp page…

I also found “Measure Of Progress” by Apollo Campbell & David Vangel featuring Mr. Blends., another track that’s well worth listening to especially because of its disjoined beat reminiscent of El-P…

With his videos only receiving a few hundred views, I think that’s well short of what his music deserves. What I will say is that there’s been too many gaps in his output (an EP in 2014 to an upcoming album in 2018 and a YouTube video every 2 years). Strangely, less than 24 hours after he sent me the links to his music, his track “Universal Law” has now been removed from his Soundcloud page and is now also unlisted in YouTube. Whether this is because of legal issues such as copyright I have no idea, but this just adds to the sporadic and irregular nature of his output. If he knuckles down and compiles more tracks and becomes more consistent with his releases, I’ll acknowledge that Apollo Campbell is one to look out for.

Measure Of Progress.